Snow Angels
by Batsutousai
Summary: Tony teaches Loki about the human pastime of making snow angels.


**Title:** _Snow Angels_  
 **Fandom:** Marvel Cinematic Universe  
 **Author:** Batsutousai  
 **Rating:** General  
 **Pairings:** Loki/Tony Stark  
 **Summary:** Tony teaches Loki about the human pastime of making snow angels.

 **A/N:** Every winter season, I send out cards to anyone willing to give me their address, and I decided this past year to send out winter-themed ficlets to slip in with them, one for each ship that people on tumblr and LJ voted for. I asked if people thought I should post them all in the new year, and most people agreed I should, so this is one of them. Save for one, which is against FFN's rules, all of them will be posted on the major, multi-fandom sites I usually post on; links to those can be found in my profile/about me page of whichever site you're reading this on. ;)

I'd originally thought to post these next month, for my birthday, and then decided I might appreciate the reviews while I'm stuck in video rooms all this weekend, lol. (I staff at Katsucon. If you're attending, feel free to drop me a line! I promise I don't bite, and I've a bag of valentines to hand out. ;)

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"Okay," Tony said from behind him, and it was an honest effort to keep from jumping, "I'll admit that I was _kind_ of expecting some, I dunno, _confusion_ or something. Maybe a 'What the hell is this white stuff falling from the sky'."

"I have seen snow before, Stark," Loki replied flatly.

"Uh-huh." Tony's head came to rest on Loki's shoulder, and it was weirdly natural, any more, to turn slightly and wrap his arm around the human. "What sort of person sees snow and _doesn't_ want to go sledding in it? Or skiing. Or–"

"The snow I observed was on Jötunheimr," Loki informed him, and Tony twitched in that way that meant he recognised that something that had just happened or been said was important, but he was going to pretend it wasn't. "Acting like babes was hardly a priority, at the time."

"Which is a _shame_ ," Tony insisted, and Loki could hear the mad grin he was almost certainly wearing in his voice. "Make snow angels, not blood angels. Come on."

Loki tore his gaze away from the lightly falling snow so he could stare at the mortal in disbelief. " _What_?!"

Tony's aghast expression was comical, and no doubt intentionally so. "Oh my _God_ ," he said in the same tone he used any time the Captain or Thor admitted to not knowing something that Tony had determined to be 'common knowledge'. (Loki was about ninety percent certain the mortal changed what was 'common knowledge' to suit his particular brand of twisted humour. Not that he could really judge, himself.) "You don't know what a snow angel is?!"

Loki had a sinking feeling that he was about to regret ignoring the Widow's sarcastic suggestion that he look up Midgardian snow customs before he let Tony drag him out to the snowy mountains he was so enamoured of.

"Come on!" Tony ordered, and then he was rushing out from under the overhang Loki had been perfectly content to remain under, into the driving way in front of the airport. A car's brakes screeched as it stopped suddenly, and Tony cheerfully stuck up his middle finger in the car's direction.

Loki hurried out after him, because _he_ could take a hit from a car, but Tony could _not_.

Tony, of course, just grinned up at him when Loki rather pointedly took a position on his left side, between him and any cars. "I almost thought you wouldn't come!" he said, way too cheerfully.

Loki just sighed and kept an eye out for any other cars coming at them. Leave it to Tony to risk his own life just to make Loki play along with one of his mad schemes; if he didn't know better, he'd think the _mortal_ was the God of Mischief.

There was a large island of untouched snow on the far side of the driving way, and Tony took about two steps into the snow, then spun and fell backward with a wide grin. (Loki would insist, if anyone asked, that the reason he hadn't caught Tony was because of that grin; if he cracked his idiot head because of his own stupidity, he deserved it. But, really, Tony had just acted a little too fast.)

The snow, at least, seemed thick enough to cushion Tony's fall, because his grin didn't falter as he started moving his arms and legs in wide arcs, pushing snow out of the way. After a few times, he sat up and held up his hand to Loki, requesting, "Help me up?"

Loki shot him his best unimpressed look, but did reach down and pull Tony up, unsurprised when he sort of hopped up and out of the impression he'd left, clearing it without disturbing it.

"Snow angel," Tony explained, motioning down at the impression he'd left. "Look, see, there's the head, and the wings, and the long ro–"

"I had thought males didn't wear dresses," Loki interrupted, a little disturbed that he actually recognised the Midgardian iconography; he'd clearly been there far too long.

Tony shrugged. "I mean, most angels are female, because delicate and pretty and pure, I guess, but it's sort of a thing for holy men – Christians, mind – to wear robes, so I assume male angels do the same. Or just, you know, there's a lady angel in everyone, even guys." He flashed Loki a wide grin. "Bet there's one inside you, too."

Loki made a point of rolling his eyes, because he'd already proven to Tony that he was comfortable in a female form. "I am not rolling around in the snow, Stark," he said, instead of pointing that out.

Tony made a show of trying to push him over – Loki didn't bother even _pretending_ to shift – then attempted to sweep his feet out from under him, which just ended with him on his behind in the snow when Loki gave him a gentle shove while his balance was off.

Tony flopped back into the snow and stared up at Loki with one of his more ridiculous pouts, even as his arms and legs started moving again to make another one of his snow angels.

Loki stared down at him for a long moment, before it occurred to him that Tony wasn't stopping moving his arms and legs like he had the first time. It didn't take a genius to realise that the mortal would keep making the same snow angel and pouting up at Loki until he gave in.

" _No_ , Stark," Loki tried, even though he knew it wouldn't work. "I did not let you drag me out here so you could lie about in the snow."

Tony's lower lip started quivering, either to simulate cold, or to suggest he was about to start crying; Loki honestly couldn't tell which.

Either way, it was certainly true that it was too cold out for Loki to let Tony continue lying in the snow, and previous experience with just picking the mortal up and carting him off said that would only result in misery. So Loki groaned and closed his eyes, then let himself fall back into the snow.

It was a little cold, but in a way that was almost _comfortable_ to that part of himself that he tried to pretend didn't exist. It was also far softer than he'd expected, and he caught himself collecting handfuls of the powder and letting it squeeze out between his fingers as he tightened them into fists, packing it more tightly into something that was a bit more familiar, but still so far from the unforgiving wastelands of his birth.

"You have to move, too, Lokes," Tony said from above him; he'd clearly got up as soon as Loki had given in.

Loki let out a loud, pointed sigh, hoping it hid his fondling of the snow, and set about moving his arms and legs the same way Tony had. After a couple of goes, he sat up and held up a hand so Tony could help him up, which he did with a wide, victorious grin.

Once he was standing, Loki looked back down at the impression he'd left.

"See," Tony said, threading their fingers together, "I told you there was an angel inside of you."

Loki scoffed and turned away, using his grip on Tony's hand to pull him after. And he didn't have any interest in the Midgardian iconography that Tony was alluding to, but it was certainly true that Midgard's snow was softer than Jötunheimr's, and it was hard not to draw a correlation between that and the absolution Loki had found on Midgard.

Perhaps the Allfather was right about everything being softer on Midgard, but Loki wasn't certain he believed that to be a bad thing. Not any more.

.


End file.
